Cheese – Italian Kiwi https://www.italiankiwi.com Recipes, Travel, And More! Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:46:56 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://www.italiankiwi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IK-logo-3-150x150.png Cheese – Italian Kiwi https://www.italiankiwi.com 32 32 Fior di Pecura: Pungent Corsican Cheese https://www.italiankiwi.com/venaco-fior-di-pecura/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/venaco-fior-di-pecura/#respond Thu, 10 May 2018 15:27:50 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=7211  

Fior de pecura, Cheese from Corsica

 

The smelliest cheese you’re ever likely to meet

This may be the stinkiest cheese I have ever laid my nose on.  After wrapping the Venaco Fior di Pecura like a present in that kids’ birthday game called “Pass The Parcel” where when the music stops, the child holding the package gets to take a layer of wrapping off, I could still catch a whiff of its pungent odour whenever I opened the fridge door.  If you think I just wasn’t rigorous about the wrappings, here they are: first I wrapped it in grease-proof paper, then aluminium foil, then I put all that in a plastic bag, then I placed the three-layer bound cheese in a tightly sealed Tupperware container.  This is not a cheese to be messed with! Now, I thought that Munster from the Alsace region was pretty smelly, but it smells like a rose compared to Fior di Pecura!

 

Fior de pecura, Cheese from Corsica

 

All about Fior di Pecura cheese

Venaco Fior di Pecura is a cheese from the island of Corsica that is made with raw sheep milk. The Venaco part of the name shows that it comes from the area of the same name in the mountainous region of central Corsica. There is a long tradition of farming sheep and goats in Corsica, which makes sense given its incredibly steep terrain.  Cows would probably fall off the sides of the mountains, unless they had legs on one side of their body shorter than those on the other, plus the sheep and goats are able to forage on the wild plants and grasses that grow in the area.

The cheese has a washed rind, which is the reason it is so delightfully smelly.  Corsican cheeses are famous for this characteristic.  If you have ever read Asterix in Corsica, you will have found this out already. The moist cheese is washed in a lightly salted brine solution before it is matured for a few months.  The washing promotes bacteria to start growing and working to produce the orange crust and give the cheese its particular taste, and creaminess.  It also means that the cheese smells very strongly because of those tiny bacteria working hard to make the Fior di Pecura taste so good.  Don’t fear the bacteria or the smell though;  if you make it past that first smell assault, you’re in for a treat.  The taste of Venaco cheese is quite strong and nutty, but nowhere near as strong as its smell suggests it will be.  As this cheese matures, it gets creamier and stronger tasting.  The one you see in the photos above is at its creamiest (and smelliest!).

 

 

This cheese come from my favourite cheese shop in my village 365 Formages. I haven’t tasted all 365 of them, but I’m slowly working my way through them!

Travel Photo Of The Week

I am very ashamed to admit that I haven’t yet been to Corsica, even though it’s only a 3 hour ferry ride from where I live and on a clear day you can even see it.  It’s one of those places that we think we’ll go to “next year”, and then we end up going somewhere else.  I have been told that it is incredibly beautiful.  One of these days we’ll go.  Maybe next year. So, instead, here’s a photo from Sardinia, which is the Italian island just South of French Corsica. Their cultures probably have more in common than they do with the countries that lay claim to them, so I think it’s a valid choice for a photo for Venaco cheese!

 

Sardinia, Italy

 

By Lisa Watson

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Mieja Mieja cheese from France https://www.italiankiwi.com/cheese-mieja-mieja/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/cheese-mieja-mieja/#comments Tue, 09 May 2017 16:57:10 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=6328  

Mieja Mieja Cheese

 

What is Mieja Mieja cheese?

This is an extremely rare cheese with an unusual name: mieja meija (or medja medja, depending on who is spelling it).  The word means “half half” in Occitan , the language which was once spoken all through the South of France, in parts of Northern Italy and in North-Eastern Spain.  Catalan, which is spoken in the province of Catalonia in Spain, is considered to be a close relative of Occitan.  There are still speakers of the various dialects of Occitan (Provençal being one of them) all through France.  I’m really glad to know this old language is still around, though apparently it is on the list of endangered languages.  If the numbers of speakers continue to fall, it may sadly just end up as a curiosity of Southern french town and village name signs, which often have both the french and Occitan names printed on them.

 

Mieja Mieja Cheese

 

Where does Mieja Mieja come from?

Although the evolution of language is an engrossing subject which you could write an entire blog about, I’m actually not here to write about it, but instead, what I actually want to tell you about about is this delicious cheese. Mieja Mieja is made from the milk of goats and sheep that graze on the Plateaux du Larzac in the Parc Naturel Régional des Grands Causses, in the french department of Aveyron, which lies east of Toulouse. I have driven through  this area and I have great admiration for the farmers who live there.  The area is very beautiful, but also extremely arid and windswept. White limestone formations stick out of the scrubby vegetation like strange sculptures.  The sheep and goats are brought in during the winter months as the weather can be very harsh, but in the warmer months, the grazing is perfect for sheep and goats.  There are only four goat farmers and four sheep farmers that the cheese producer,  Jésus El Bitar, uses to make Mieja Mieja. As the name suggests, the cheese is made with half goat milk and half sheep milk.

 

Mieja Mieja Cheese

 

what does Mieja Mieja taste like?

Mieja Mieja is a semi-hard cheese with a washed rind. It has an initial sharp taste, with earthy mushroom flavours coming in as you chew it.  You can definitely taste the goat milk part of it!  It doesn’t have a pungent smell though, so it is not necessary to wrap it in layers of anti-smell aluminium foil like you need to do for cheeses such as Munster from the Alsace. If you manage to get hold of some (look out for the brand name Fromabon), do try it!

 

Travel Photo of the Week

This photo comes from the area near where all those sheep and goats are grazing, and very close to La Cavalerie, where the cheese is produced.  The bridge you see is the Millau viaduct; the tallest bridge in the world. The highest part of the bridge is a little higher than the Eiffel Tower (that’s what all tall things are measured against in France!).  It’s very spectacular to see, and to drive over.  If you would like a good view of the bridge, head down to the tiny village of Peyre (where this photo is taken from).

 

Millau bridge, France

 

By Lisa Watson

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Bleu de Termignon https://www.italiankiwi.com/bleu-de-termignon/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/bleu-de-termignon/#respond Sat, 26 Mar 2016 23:48:24 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=5243  

Bleu de Termignon

 

An incredibly rare cheese: Bleu de Termignon

What you are looking at in the photo above is the Hope diamond of french cheeses (not that if you eat it you become cursed, but because it’s REALLY unique).  Bleu de Termignon is incredibly rare.  It is made by only four cheese-makers in the whole of France, who have herds of cows that number no more than 60 animals in each herd.  Are you impressed yet?  I’m sure each cow has a name! You could probably find out that this piece of Bleu de Termignon was made from the milk of Daisy, Bossy, Marigold and Jezebel if you go talk to the farmers.  Just for the record, Jezebel was a real house-cow we had when I was little, who ate the flowers in our garden and gave us fresh milk in exchange.

Meet the cows who make the cheese

The cows who donate their milk for this cheese graze above 23oo metres (7500 feet); only in the Summer months of course, as in the Winter, their fields are covered in snow. This makes the Bleu de Termignon seasonal. About a hundred rounds of the cheese are made between mid-June and the end of September.  After milk from the two milkings (from two successive days) has been mixed together, it is salted and left in wooden buckets to set.  After 15 days, it is moved to a special cellar to begin its “blue” process, which takes about 4 to 8 months.  The difference between the Bleu de Termignon and other blue cheeses such as Roquefort and Gorgonzola is that the mold you see in the cheese is entirely naturally formed, rather than being inoculated into the cheese. For this reason you can get a bleu de Termignon that isn’t “bleu” at all!

 

Bleu Termignon

 

Where does Bleu de Termignon come from?

Bleu de Termignon comes from farmers who live in a small cluster of houses in the mountains inside the Vanoise Natural Park, in the Savoy region in the East of France. Are they related? I don’t know, but I’d love to find out! Coincidentally, it is not far from where a few of the other cheeses I’ve written about already are from: Mont d’Or , Comté and Reblochon .  It makes me think that I should go for a holiday around that part of France one of these days and maybe meet some of the cows in person. In fact, it is not far from the Susa Valley the North-West of Italy, where I’ve taken you before for a walk to Hell.  A few years ago, we hiked up a valley to a lake high in the mountains.  I’ve just realized that we were looking at the other side of the mountain (like the bear in the song) from where this cheese is made.  In the photo below, you can see the mountain home of the cows who make Bleu de Termignon.

 

Italian/French alps, North-west Italy

 

The cheese has a crumbly texture and is surprisingly mild in taste. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to taste much of it as I brought it out when we had cheese-loving visitors over and most of it disappeared.  Oh well, that gives me an excuse to buy some more, if I can find any……

By Lisa Watson

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Mont d’Or cheese from France https://www.italiankiwi.com/mont-dor/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/mont-dor/#respond Sun, 24 Jan 2016 13:52:49 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=5090  

Mont d"Or cheese

 

On the discovery of Mont d’Or cheese

This year for the first time, I had a dairy revelation when I took a mouthful of melted Mont d’Or cheese. Mont d’Or has to be one of the most addictively delicious cheeses I’ve ever eaten! You can eat it straight out of its wooden box with a spoon if it’s really mature; or even better, you can bathe it in white wine and lavishly sprinkle it with cracked black pepper, then throw it in the oven. The melted, gooey goodness that comes out can be poured over potatoes and prosciutto, or you can simply tear off bits of crusty bread and dip them straight into the cheese, then try to get it into your mouth before it drips all over you. Are you drooling yet? I am!

 

Mont d'Or cheese with potatoes and dried meats

 

The history of Mont d’Or cheese

Mont d’Or is a seasonal cheese.  It starts appearing in the shops in France from September on, and through the Winter. As the weather warms up, the cheese flies South to the Antarctic. Cheese-watchers turn out in droves to watch thousand-strong flocks of Mont d’Or cheeses heading out towards Africa and beyond. Um, OK….back to Earth here: the cheese is made over the Fall and Winter months from the fat-heavy milk from cows.  During the Spring and Summer, the milk from these same cows is used to make gruyere and comté.  The story goes that the mountain farmers who normally pooled their milk to make these harder cheeses would become isolated by snow during the colder months, so needed to preserve the milk themselves. They made small, soft cheeses which could be made at lower temperatures than those needed for comté and gruyere. The soft cheeses were also higher in fat content because of the changing diet of the cows as they came down from the mountain pastures to the valley floor for the Winter. The milk Mont d’Or is made with must come from cows who graze above 700 meters (2300 feet).  If they stray down to 699 meters, I’m not sure what happens then. The cows get a detention, maybe?

 

Melted Mont d'Or Cheese

 

The controversy swirling around Mont d’Or

The Swiss and French of the Mont d’Or region have been fighting over who invented the cheese for years.  In the end, the border is arbitrary and they all come from the same area, so who can say? Now-a-days, the French Mont d’Or is made with unpasteurized milk and the Swiss one with pasteurized milk, but the rest of the process is the same.  I haven’t actually tried a Swiss Mont d’Or, but I have heard it whispered in corridors and from behind bushes that the one made with unpasteurized milk tastes much better.

The mountainous area of Mont d’Or is in the East of France, bordering on Switzerland (obviously!). I’m afraid I haven’t been there yet,so you’ll just have to imagine snowy mountains and Heidi-like chalets dotted about the place (well, I imagine that’s what it looks like! The wood box the cheese comes in is made with spruce, which gives the soft, creamy cheese an added musky flavour.  The rind is soft and should be eaten along with the rest of the cheese.  Don’t try to cut it off.  You’ll miss out on the best bit!

If you can find a round of Mont d’Or in your country, try to taste it.  I had a quick look on the internet and saw that there are online cheese shops in various parts of the world, such as the U.S.A., Australia and New Zealand, that sell it.  It is also called Vacherin sometimes.  In the Southern hemisphere, I’m afraid you’ll have to eat it in your Summer since it is a seasonal cheese. Try to pick a rainy day and put the air-conditioning on to high so that the setting’s right!

By Lisa Watson

 

Mont d'Or cheese from France

Mont d'Or Cheese: What it is, where it comes from, and how to eat it.
Course Main Course
Cuisine French
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 Mont d'Or cheese
  • 4 Tbsp White wine
  • to taste Cracked Black Pepper
  • 12 -15 medium Potatoes
  • a selection Dried Meats prosciutto, ham, bresaola, salami

Instructions

  • Take the lid of the wooden cheese box. Cover the outside of the box with aluminium foil to prevent leaks.
  • Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
  • The size of your potatoes will vary the cooking time: medium ones will take about 30 -40 minutes to cook. Run a sharp knife over the top of each potato so that it doesn't explode when cooking, and put them in the oven on a baking tray, or straight on the metal rack. Leave them to bake until you can push a fork into them easily.
  • About 30 minutes before the potatoes are done, put the cheese in the oven to melt.
  • Arrange the various cuts of dried meats on plates.
  • When the cheese and potatoes are ready, put everything in the centre of the table and put a spoon in the melted cheese. Everyone can help themselves!  If you feel the need for something healthy, add a green salad to the dinner. 
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Reblochon cheese https://www.italiankiwi.com/reblochon/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/reblochon/#respond Tue, 22 Sep 2015 13:02:22 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=4742  

Reblochon Cheese from the French Alps

 

All about Reblochon cheese

Reblochon cheese is a creamy, soft cheese that comes from the Savoy region of the Alps in France, between Lake Annecy and the South side of  Lake Léman. It is quite pungent to smell, but surprisingly delicate in taste, so don’t be scared to try it because of the scent that reaches you nose.  Its bark is far worse than its bite!  Reblochon is made from full-cream, unpasteurized cow’s milk.  It is said that about 500 years ago, the farmers in the area were taxed on the milk production of their cows.  So that they could pay less tax, they would would only “half-milk” the cows.  Later on (I guess once the tax collectors had gone on their merry way), they would remilk the cows and make this cheese from the rest of the milk, that was higher in fat content than the milk from the first milking.  In fact, the word reblocher in Savoy dialect means “to remilk”, thus the name Reblochon was born for the cheese.

 

Reblochon Cheese

 

How do you eat Reblochon cheese?

Reblochon cheese is always round in shape and  has a soft white/yellowish rind that can be eaten. The cheese is washed every couple of days with whey during the production process to help the cheese age more quickly. It only takes 3 to 4 weeks of aging before it is ready to eat.  The taste of reblochon is slightly nutty and it feels velvety in your mouth.  It can be eaten by itself or melted over whatever you would like to melt cheese over!  One of the signature mountain dishes that uses Reblochon is tartiflette: an addictive mixture of sauteed potatoes and lardon (bacon) with Reblochon melted all over it.  You can salivate over the recipe here. If you can’t find Reblochon cheese, I have given you some suggestions of alternatives to use.

 

Calf

 

This calf actually comes from my parent’s farm, not from the Savoy region in France, but I just added it in since this is a cow’s milk cheese (and the photo is pretty funny!).  This calf was so desperate for its milk dinner that it wouldn’t have left any milk for making cheese!

By Lisa Watson

 

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Mimolette cheese https://www.italiankiwi.com/mimolette/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/mimolette/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:13:05 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=4497  

mimolette cheese

 

The history behind Mimolette cheese

The bright orange colour of Mimolette cheese makes it instantly recognizable. It is also known as “Boule de Lille”, as it was originally created in Lille in the north of France, and is still made around that area today. Why was it made in the first place? I’m sure you’re asking that question. Well, the story goes that in the 1600s, when France was at war with Holland, the French still wanted to eat Edam cheese, so the king at the time, Louis XIV sent the word out to his Minister of Finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert that he needed to get something done about getting cheese on the table again.  How could the French survive otherwise?  So, Mr Colbert convinced the farmers around Flanders to try to make a similar cheese to Edam.  They actually didn’t make a cheese anything like Edam, but came up with something even better, and called it a much nicer name: mimolette!

 

Orange mimolette cheese from Lille, France

 

How does Mimolette cheese get its orange colour?

The orange colour of this cow’s milk cheese comes from a natural product called annatto, which come from the seeds of the achiote tree, and the grey, pitted crust is produced because of the microscopic cheese mites that nibble away at the cheese while it is maturing and hardening for up to 2 years.  Don’t worry: most of the mites get brushed off when it’s sold.  There was actually a big row between France and the U.S.A. a few years ago about importing mimolette because of the mites present on the surface of the cheese. Apparently for years the U.S. government has had a rule that there can only be 6 mites per square inch of cheese, which is an incredibly low number.  I want to know how they count them if the mites are moving from one square inch to another during the counting.  Anyway, it seems to have all been a storm in a teacup and mimolette can be found in all its mite-laden glory in the U.S. again.

The mimolette shown above is “middle-aged”. It is hard and almost crumbly when it is very old. It has a sharp nutty, salty taste.  The older it gets, the stronger the taste gets. The crust is edible, but doesn’t taste very good (maybe because of all those mites!), so it’s better to cut it off before eating the cheese.

The photo below was taken in Normandy, which is as close as I can get for you to the area the cheese is made in.  It’s not terribly different: imagine being able to be a cow and graze with that view all day!

 

Normandy, France

 

By Lisa Watson

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Munster From The Alsace, France https://www.italiankiwi.com/munster/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/munster/#respond Mon, 18 May 2015 08:20:51 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=4309  

Munster Cheese from The Alsace, France

 

False friends: Munster cheese and Muenster cheese.  what is the difference?

Munster cheese is an unpasteurized cow’s milk.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the Muenster (note the different spelling) that you can buy in the U.S.A, as it has a different production process and tastes very different. Munster cheese comes from cows that munch grass in the Vosgian mountains in the East of France near the border with Germany.  In the Middle Ages, the monasteries around the beautiful village of Munster in the Alsace region started producing this cheese, and everyone has been eating it ever since.

 

Colmar, Alsace, France

 

How is Munster cheese made?

Munster is washed a number of times with brine over the course of five weeks and kept in a damp cellar to encourage a certain kind of bacteria to grow that gives the cheese is strong taste, creamy consistency and very pungent odour.  It often can be bought in round ceramic containers as otherwise it oozes everywhere and loses it’s shape quickly!

 

Munster Cheese

 

The danger of buying Munster cheese

The Alsace is a region close to my heart as I lived just across the border in Germany for a few years and used to visit the area regularly.  On one of our visits, we went to the town of Munster and decided to buy some Gerwürztrauminer wine, baguette and a round of their cheese (how could you not?) for a picnic lunch in the forest.  The formagère wrapped our chosen Munster in aluminium foil and then bagged it with three plastic bags, each one tied tightly at the top. We then put it in the trunk of the car and went off to visit the town, enjoying the thought that our picnic lunch was all ready and waiting for us.

A few hours later we wandered back to the car.  A powerfully strong old sock smell blasted us as soon as we cracked open the doors and left us gasping for fresh air.  We had to pull the cheese from the back of the car and leave all the doors open for a while before we could even attempt to get in.  The cheese was hung off the side mirror of the car while we drove to our picnic spot so that we wouldn’t be subjected to the smell.  It was worth it!  The Munster was DELICIOUS! The photo of me below was taken when we went to visit the Alsace way back in 1997.  The architecture of the houses in the photo is very typical for all over the region (and also for the neighbouring  part of Germany).  I think that the bag I’m holding in the photo actually contains the infamous cheese. You have to excuse the quality of the photos of the Alsace area on this post.  They were taken before digital cameras existed.  I took a photo of the photos so that I could show you what it looks like there.  I hope to go back to revisit the area one day (and take better photos).

 

Munster, Alsace, France

By Lisa Watson

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Robiola Bosina cheese from Italy https://www.italiankiwi.com/robiola-bosina/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/robiola-bosina/#respond Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:29:24 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=4072

 

Robiola Bosina from Piemonte, Italy

 

All about creamy Robiola Bosina cheese from Italy

The name ”Robiola” is given to a whole heap of cheeses that are made in the Piemonte and Lombardia regions of Northern Italy. You can take my word for it that if you see the name “Robiola” on a cheese, it’s going to taste good! This creamy square-shaped cheese is a very specific Robiola called “Robiola Bosina”. It is made in the Southern part of the Langhe, called the “Alta Langa”. The Langhe is a beautiful wine growing area below the city of Turin, relatively unknown outside of Italy. You may have heard of the wines that come from the region even if you haven’t heard of the region itself, such as Barolo, Nebbiolo and Barbera. They have the well-deserved reputation for being some of the best wines in Italy. And, what better to go with good red wines that great cheeses? In my opinion, this seems a necessity. In fact, I think all vineyards should also make cheese that complements their wines: kind of a one-stop shop.

 

The Langhe, Piedmont, Italy

 

What is Robiola Bosina made of?

Robiola cheeses are made of a mixture of sheep, cow and/or goat’s milk, depending on the type of Robiola. Robiola Bosina uses a mix of pasturized sheep and cow’s milk, which is why it is also called “due latte” (two milk) cheese (rather unimaginative, but what can you do?). You can find this Robiola in different parts of the world since the milk is pasturized.  I had a look at the website of Caseificio dell’Alta Langa, the factory that makes it and saw that they distribute this cheese to Australia and Japan, as well as other countries around the world. Robiola Bosina has a very thin, white, edible crust. The cheese is very soft, like Brie. As it ages, it becomes creamier and runnier, and of course, stronger tasting. It is aged for a very short time: just a couple of weeks, before being sold. It keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks if it is well-wrapped.

 

Robiola Bosina

 

How does Robiola Bosina smell, and what does it taste like?

When I was taking the photos of the Robiola, the smell coming from the cheese was intoxicating. It is relatively pungent (though not so much that it’s one of those cheeses that you need to eat outdoors so the smell doesn’t overwhelm people!), but the taste is, surprisingly, not strong. It has very difficult taste to describe. It’s slightly buttery, and a little like mushrooms (in a good way, not a mouldy way!), and has a sweetish after-taste. It is best eaten at room temperature with some crusty fresh bread.

 

By Lisa Watson

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Trappe d’Échourgnac https://www.italiankiwi.com/trappe-dechourgnac/ https://www.italiankiwi.com/trappe-dechourgnac/#respond Tue, 10 Feb 2015 17:14:32 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=3942

 

Trappe d'échourgnac

 

The history behind the making of Trappe d’Echourgnac cheese

This cheese is very special as it is made in a monastery in the Dordogne region of France and nowhere else!

The brown colour on the rind is there, as the cheese is washed with a walnut liqueur.  You eat it with the rind on, and get a wonderful smokey walnut taste with the cheese. The cheese was first made in the 1800’s by the monks living in the monastery.  They used milk from the farms of locals and helped the farmers improve their herds and milk quality.  At the beginning of the 1900’s, the monastery was closed.  Who knows where all those cheese producing monks went?  When it was reopened again a few years later, it was rechristened as a nunnery.  It was the inspired idea of the nuns who continued making Trappe d’Échourgnac,to wash the cheese with walnut liqueur in 1999. Maybe they had too much walnut liqueur on their hands that year, and didn’t know what to do with the rest of it. Anyway, they had such a big success with it, that they have since allowed the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Timadeuc to also use the recipe, so that they can increase production of the cheese.  When it comes from this abbey it is called Timanoix.

 

Trappe Cheese

 

What does Trappe d’Echourgnac taste like?

The cheese is made from cow’s milk and is a pasteurized cheese, so it’s possible that you may be able to get it outside of Europe. Trappe is not mild and not strong: somewhere is between.  It has a smooth consistency similar to that of Gouda when you chew it. You can definitely taste the walnut notes when you eat it.  It is, of course, eaten with the crust on it.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been there (yet!), so I don’t have a photo of the area, but if you want to go to the source of Trappe d’Échourgnac, it’s about 100 km North-East of Bordeaux in France. I skipped through Bordeaux a long time ago, but at the time I didn’t know about this cheese.  Next time, I’ll visit the monastery, for sure!

By Lisa Watson

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Comté cheese from France https://www.italiankiwi.com/comte/ Fri, 06 Feb 2015 17:13:23 +0000 http://www.italiankiwi.com/?p=3908

Comté Cheese

 

Comté: one of the most common cheeses in France

Comté is as ubiquitous in France as Cheddar is in the United Kingdom, or Monterey Jack is in the United States.  In the supermarket it comes in block form and already grated; aged or young. Of course, as with all hard cheeses, there is a big difference in taste depending on how long it has been aged for.  The younger cheese is aged for 4 -6 months, and that one REALLY has no taste (as far as I’m concerned).  I prefer the tastier versions that can be aged from 12 months, up to 36 months. It melts very well, so can be used in many dishes where you need, well….melted cheese. Any recipe you use cheddar cheese for can be livened up by adding grated or diced comté instead.

Where is Comté made?

Comté is the most widely produced cheese in France.  It is made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the mountains in the Jura region in the Eastern part of France, near Switzerland.  Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the area.  I have been there, but it was bucketing down with rain for the whole time I was there.  The photo with this post is taken just across Lake Geneva from the Jura region, where the scenery is similar (but they don’t have the right to make Comté).

If you would like to find out about another, very different, cheese from the same area, go have a peek at my post on Mont d’Or, a creamy, gooey cheese that with make you want more!

 

Savoie Mountains, Europe

 

By Lisa Watson

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